Process and apparatus for twining threads



Feb. 28, 1961 n A E. HAMEL 2,972,856

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TWINING THREADS Filed March 25, 1959 2Sheets-sheet 1 ,//lW//l//f// FIG I. f\ 4 I2 2 ll-l- 'f//AIV/l//MINVNTOR.- Edmund Hamel ff/@M AGENT.

j (Il Feb. 28, 1961 Filed March 25, 1959 E. HAMEL PROCESS AND APPARATUSFOR TWINING THREADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Edmund Hamel INVENTOR.

AGENT.

Uited VStates 'PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TWINDTG THREADS Edmund Hamel,Munster, Westphalia, Germany, assigner to Hamel ProiektierungsundVerwaltungs-A.G., Horn, Thurgau, Switzerland, a corporation ofSwitzerland My present invention relates to the twining of threads fromvegetable, animal or synthetic fibers' by blending several filamentsinto a yarn and twisting the yarn thus obtained.

Heretofore, diiculties were encountered in the blending of filamentsfrom two or more spools, in particular from spools of unequal diameters,since the difference Ain tension often resulted in the formation ofloops and knots or led to the rupture of one or more of the componentfilaments. In the production of such threads it is not, however, alwayspossible to use spools of like diameter since this would necessitate thediscarding of some spools prior to complete unwinding. As a consequenceof these diiculties, frequent stoppage of the machinery and repair ofbroken filaments could not be avoided even if the blending process wascarried out at relatively slow speed.

An important object of my present invention is to provide an improvedtwining process enabling the realization of greatly increased productionrates.

Another major object of this invention is the provision of a simple andeconomical process for producing great lengths of threads free fromknots and other objectionable defects.

It is also an object of this invention to yprovide machinery adapted toput the above process into practice.

arent O The process according to the present invention consists in thetwining of threads in two stages, namely a blending stage and afinishing stage, each involving a twisting of the thread-formingfilaments. kIn the blending stage the filaments are brought together atpreferably high speed and are given a slight protective twist at arelatively low number of turns per unit of length; in the finishingstage the yarn is twisted again, this time at a relatively high numberof turns per unit of length. The initial twist, affording a preliminaryconsolidation of the filaments in a manner preventing the occurrence ofmajor irregularities due to cumulative differences in tension, is bestcarried out with the aid of a rotating bobbin to which the yarn isdelivered, by a suitable feeding mechanism, at a predetermined forwardspeed relative to the angular velocity of the bobbin; the latter isadvantageously provided, in a manner well known per se, with an axiallyreciprocable spinning ring bearing a freely movable traveler throughwhich the yarn passes. For the finishing stage, in which the yarn is tobe unwound from the bobbin at a high rate of spin, I prefer to use arotatable shell in which the bobbin is encased for simultaneous rotationtherewith about a vertical axis, the shell being provided at its topwith a hole through which the finished thread is withdrawn at a desiredrate; a device of this type requires virtually no supervision.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus adapted to carry out theprocess step illustrated in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of an apparatus for carryingout the process step shown in Fig. 2.

Reference will tirst be made to Fig. 1 for a description of the novelblending stage of my improved system. Filaments 1' and 2', individuallydispensed by a pair of spools 1 and 2, are led together over a deectingroller 5 andthrough an eye 6 to ra suitable transport mechanism hereshown as a'pair of parallel rollers 7, 8 of different diameters. Theblended filaments pass one or more times around the two rollers, whichare driven by suitable means not illustrated in Fig. l, as has beenindicated by the arrows. After passing through another stationary eye 9,the yarn 10 representing the combination of these filaments is given aslight initial twist -by being wound on a bobbin 15, at a controlledrate, following the traverse of a traveler 14 which is freelydisplaceable on a non-rotating spinning ring 11 surrounding the bobbin15. This bobbin, removably seated on a vertical spindle 22 which isjournaled in a stationary bracket 24, is rotated by a belt 13 atapredetermined speed with respect to the feed rollers 7 and 8. Spinningring 11 is mounted on a frame 12 arranged to move up and down in amanner more' fully illustrated in Fig. 3.

If therperipheral speed of bobbin 15 measurably exceeds the linearlspeed of yarn 10 as imparted to it by the transport mechanismv7, 8, thetraveler 14 will revolve about the bobbin axis at a rate commensuratewith the difference of these two speeds. I have found that aninitialtwist suicient to maintain the yarn smooth and reasonably uniform can beobtained yif the aforementioned speed difference is just large enough toovercome the inertia of the traveler 14. VSince the effective forwardspeed of the yarn and, therefore, the rate of twist per unit of lengthwill also be affected by the reciprocating motion of the frame 12, thislatter motion should be very slow in comparison with the peripheralvelocity'of roller 8 so that the rate of twist will be substantially thesame during the upstroke and the downstroke of ring 11.

Generally, the preliminary twist produced by the arrangement of Fig. lcan range between about one and eighty turns per meter, i.e. up toapproximately twoy 30 turns per meter or 10,000 to 12,000 travelerrevolu-l tions per minute.

Reference will now be made to Fig. 2 for a description of the second orfinishing stage of my process. The loaded bobbin 15, taken from thespindle 22 of Fig. 1, is now seated within a generally cylindrical shell16 on a stud 16 which is rigid with that shell and whose outwardextension is journaled in a bracket 25 whereby the members 15 and 16 arerotatable as a unit about a vertical axis. Motion is imparted to thisunit by a belt drive 23. VThe top of shell 16 is closed by a removablelid 16" through whichthe finished thread 10 passes outwardly by way ofan eye 19 to a take-up reel 20. The lid 16 carries a hook 18 whichfrictionally Vengages the thread 10 so as to twist it at the rate ofrotation of unit 15, 16 without materially impeding the advance of thethread. This advance is controlled by a driven friction roller 21 whosesupporting arm 26 is urged by a spring 27 into contact with theperiphery of the reel 20.

While the take-up speed of reel 20 may vary within wide limits inaccordance with requirements, its correlaaeraese tion with the rotaryspeed of bobbin and shell 16 should be such that the additional twistnow imparted to the thread should be considerably greater than thatpreviously given to it; it will be understood that both twists are to bein the same direction. A suitable finishing twist is of the order of1,000 turns per meter, or approximately 300 turns per foot; the rate ofthis twist may, however, range between approximately 80 and 5,000 turnsper meter, thus upwardly of the upper limit of roughly two turns perinch given above for the preliminary twist. The rotary speed of thebobbin 15 may again be of the order of 10,000 to 12,000 r.p.m.

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated an apparatus adapted to carry out the iirststep of my process, described hereinabove with reference to Fig. l.Mounted on a rack 30 are four spools 1, 2, 3, 4 dispensing the ilarnents1', 2, 3 and 4', respectively. These iilaments are blended, in themanner described above with reference to the filaments 1' and 2', bybeing led around the roller 5 and additional guide rollers 31, 32 asWell as the eye. 6 to the transport rollers 7 and 8 whence the yarn 10traverses the eye 9 and the traveler 14 prior to being wound around thebobbin 15. A drive roller 33 normally is in frictional engagement withthe feed roller 8, being urged against it by a spring 34 anchored to alever 35 by which this roller is pivotally mounted on the stationaryframe 36 of the machine. A rod 37 links the lever 35 with a pedal 38 toenable disengagement of drive roller 33 from feed roller 8. The elementsreferred to above are symmetrically duplicated on the machine frame 36;only the left-hand part of the system will be described in detailhereinafter.

A belt 39 connects the roller 33 with the shaft of a motor 40 which alsodrives the spindle 22, through the belt 13. This belt passes about thespindle 22, and the corresponding spindle on the right-hand side of thesystem, by way of two pairs of independently rotatable rollers 41a, 41band 41a' and 41h. A pair of independently rotatable tension rollers 42a,42h, carried by a pair of arms 43, serve to stretch the belt 13 tautunder the action of a spring 44. One of the belt-supporting rollers,here the roller 41a, is connected with the motor 40 by a belt 45. Inthis manner the desired synchronism is maintained between spindle 22 andfeed roller 8 with the degree of accuracy required for the purposepreviously explained.

The stationary frame 36 is provided with a plurality of vertical rails36 engaged on opposite sides by pairs of bearing rollers 12 which arecarried on the vertically movable frame 12. This frame supports not onlythe spinning ring 11 but also, through an arm 46, the guiding loop oreye 9 through which the yarn 10 passes on its way to the traveler 14.The distance between eye 9 and ring 11 is thereby maintained constant.Frame 12 is reciprocated, through the intermediary of a connecting rod47, by a crank 48 which is driven over a belt 49 from a motor 50.

In view of the rapidity with which the filaments )iL-4 from dispensers 14 are combined into the yarn 10 which is then wound on the bobbin 15, atwo-bobbin unit as illustrated in Fig. 3 can continuously supply a largenumber of shells 16 from which the nished thread is taken at a high rateof twist but at a relatively reduced rate of feed. This has beenillustrated in Fig. 4 which shows a battery of such shells 16 rotatablymounted alongside one another on the frame 25, another part of thisframe supporting the eyes 19 through which the threads 10 pass as theyemerge from the lids 16" by way of hooks 18. Frame member 25' carriesrollers 51 on which a platform 52 is supported for horizontalreciprocating motion imparted to it by mechanism not furtherillustrated. The platform 52 carries the take-up reels 20 for therespective shells 16, these reels being operatively engaged by therollers 21 driven over belts 53 from a suitable power source not shown.It will be apparent that the belts 23, which serve to rotate the shells16, may be powered by the same source in a manner insurin(y propercorrelation between the rotary speed of the shells and the linearvelocity of the threads.

In view of the great lengths of flawless thread which can be produced bya system according to my invention, the bobbins 15 as well as the reels20 may be of much larger storage capacity than has heretofore beenpractical. T'ne assembly illustrated in Fig. 4, in which each shell 16forms a compact unit with the enclosed bobbin 15, can be operated with aminimum of supervision at Very high rotary speeds. This is so becausethe unfinished yarn within the shell, prior to being twisted into thethread 10', is protected from atmospheric currents by the fact that theair cushion within the shell rotates substantially at the same speed asthe bobbin.

Whenever the contents of a bobbin 15 have been transferred onto one ormore reels 20, the bobbin is removed from its shell 16 and replaced by afreshly loaded bobbin from the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 3. Thereels 20, when completed, are removed from the platform 52 for storageor utilization in a loom, a braiding machine or the like.

Although preferred speed and twist ranges have been given in thepreceding description, it will be understood that the invention in itsbroader aspects is not limited to these values, nor to the particularstructure shown and described, but that it is capable of numerousmodifications and adaptations without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A process for twining threads, comprising the steps of blending aplurality of filaments from respective sources into a yarn by advancingsaid filaments together at a relatively high and equal forward speedwhile irnparting to the yarn a preliminary twist with a relatively lownumber of turns per unit of length, and subsequently imparting to saidyarn a iinishing twist of a relatively high number or turns per unit oflength while advancing the twisted yarn at a relatively low forwardspeed, the minimum ratio of said high and low number of turns beingabout ten to one.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein said preliminary twist rangesbetween approximately l and turns per meter.

3. A process according to claim 1 wherein said relatively high forwardspeed is of the order of several hundred meters per minute.

4. A process according to claim 1 wherein said nishing twist is of theorder of 1,000 turns per meter.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

